


Optimistic

by TardisIsTheOnlyWayToTravel



Category: Smallville, Superman - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Futurefic, Happy Ending, M/M, Reconciliation, Soulmates, doesn't follow canon, post-Smallville
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-13
Updated: 2014-08-13
Packaged: 2018-02-12 23:54:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,138
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2129217
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TardisIsTheOnlyWayToTravel/pseuds/TardisIsTheOnlyWayToTravel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It’s been years since Clark and Lex have talked; oh, Superman and Luthor talk all the time (although ‘argue with’ or ‘yell at each other’ might be a better description), but Clark and Lex, who, for a while, were practically inseparable?</p><p><i>They</i> haven’t spoken in years.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Optimistic

**Author's Note:**

> Dammit, _no._
> 
> I was going to wait until I'd seen more of Smallville and was more familiar with the characters before I wrote anything more in this fandom, but people kept asking me to write something like my last fic but more cheerful, and I ended up doing it. So this is your fault, you guys. I am only posting this because you were all sad in the comments of my last fic.
> 
> Please note that I've barely watched any Smallville, so the characters are probably OOC.

**Optimistic**

Written on the inside of Clark’s arm are the words _‘I could’ve sworn I hit you.’_ As first words go, they’re definitely unusual; Lex’s _‘If you had, I’d be… I’d be dead’_ would be just as much of a talking point if either of them ever rolled up their sleeves.

It’s been years since Clark and Lex have talked; oh, Superman and Luthor talk all the time (although ‘argue with’ or ‘yell at each other’ might be a better description), but Clark and Lex, who, for a while, were practically inseparable? _They_ haven’t spoken in years.

Looking back now, Clark better understands why Lex did what he did. It wasn’t good, and Lex definitely shouldn’t have done it, but Clark has long forgiven him anyway. For anyone who grew up the way Lex did, any unknown element represented personal danger on a deep level, and between that and Lex’s frustration and hurt – Clark can recognise how much his dissembling hurt Lex, these days – at the fact that his soulmate was keeping secrets from him when he’d bared everything, well… Lex’s curiosity was always going to get the better of him sooner or later. Clark understands that, now.

Part of the problem is that both of them were so young. Clark was still just a kid, and Lex wasn’t all that much older, for all he _seemed_ it to a naïve, unsophisticated teenage Clark. He was still young enough to fumble things, especially when he didn’t have any good examples to follow, and Clark – well, Clark had even less experience and less sense than Lex did. Honestly, looking back, it’s not a surprise that things ended in disaster.

But Clark misses Lex all the same, misses him like a part of himself has gone missing, and he doubts that’s ever going to change. Everyone knows what a soulmate-bond means: ‘a soulmate means forever,’ as the more lurid romance novels proclaim on their covers. And Clark might have forgiven Lex a long time ago, but Lex? God knows what he thinks of Clark. Clark lost his ability to read Lex years ago – a privilege he once took for granted that has since been revoked. Still, sometimes he sees flashes of the old Lex – a smile, or a gesture so familiar that Clark’s heart fills with warmth and affection. They’re never aimed at Clark, of course, but the sight of them… well, it’s a relief to know that somewhere under the Luthor facade Lex still _exists_ , that he hasn’t been swallowed up by the weight of expectation and business and Lex’s own bitter paranoia.

Not all of the meetings between Superman and Lex Luthor are hostile, it’s important to note: sometimes Lex is the one who needs saving, from assassins or disgruntled former employees or sometimes just his uncanny instinct for landing himself in trouble.

“We’ve got to stop meeting like this,” Lex says, the third time Clark rescues him from a would-be assassin (well, the third time it’s _obvious_. Clark knocks out snipers on rooftops and delivers them to the police worryingly often, but that doesn’t quite count as actually ‘rescuing’ Lex, Clark is fairly sure).

“Sure, as soon as you stop getting shot at,” Clark replies easily, setting Lex out of harm’s way and nipping back to tap the shooter on the back of the head so that they crumple to the ground unconscious. A moment later he’s back, and Lex is exactly where Clark left him, standing with all the poise of a man who knows that there’s a superhero watching out for him. (Although, Lex would probably still have that poise even if Clark didn’t give a damn, which is both irritating and endearing in a way that Clark can’t explain.)

Lex watches Clark thoughtfully, and Clark stares back. There’s a short silence. Clark tries to think of something to say.

“I would have told you eventually, you know,” is what comes out of Clark’s mouth, and Clark inwardly curse himself for thinking about these things when Lex is around.

“Told me what?” Lex asks, even though he knows full well.

“ _You_ know.” Clark glares at him, because he’s smiling, the bastard. “I just wasn’t ready to admit that I was…” he falters.

“An alien?” Lex asks idly, his tone casual, but his eyes intent.

“Abnormal,” Clark finishes resolutely. Lex’s eyebrows rise slightly.

“Abnormal?” Lex repeats, and there’s something in his expression, something that lacks polish and catches Clark’s attention because of it, and then Lex laughs, and shakes his head in understanding. “Jonathan Kent strikes again, I suppose.”

“Dad did his best,” Clark says defensively, but then admits, “although sometimes he could have done better.”

“It’s funny,” says Lex, and again, he sounds like he’s speaking idle musings, “but I always thought of your father as a kind of ideal of fatherhood. It never occurred to me, back then, that your father could be damaging in his own way, with his stubborn principles and preconceptions. Stupid of me.”

“Not stupid,” says Clark, because Lex is never stupid. “Just… optimistic.”

Lex’s mouth twists.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve been accused of optimism,” he says.

Clark can’t quite believe that they’re even having this conversation. He and Lex haven’t said a civil word to each other in years.

Clark casts him a sideways look, under his lashes. Sees the way Lex reacts to that and then tries to reign himself in, the way Lex always does.

“I guess neither of us had any idea what we were doing, back then,” he says, and his tone is cautious, and a little hopeful.

Lex goes still.

“Clark,” he says, and goes silent.

“Both of us messed up,” Clark says carefully, so very carefully, because if he doesn’t say exactly the right thing, this isn’t going to go well. Might not go well anyway. “We were both young and didn’t know what we were doing, but Lex, we’ve both had time to grow up since then.”

Lex hesitates, but Clark waits. Lex runs his hand over the back of his head.

“What makes you think that things would work out any better now than they did then?” he asks, but there’s no bite in his tone. His usual air of certainty is gone.

“Well, you know I’m an alien, for one thing,” says Clark. “I don’t really have any secrets left.”

He waits, scarcely able to breath, as Lex considers.

“It wouldn’t be easy,” Lex says slowly.

Clark lets himself grin.

“Is anything, with us?” he says, and sees Lex’s lips twitch, just a little. “Come on. Just give us a second chance.”

Lex glances away for a moment, then back, and suddenly Clark can read him as easily as he used to, back when they were friends.

“ _Clark_ ,” says Lex, and Clark knows that Lex means _yes._


End file.
